My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, on her excellent maiden speech and to the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, on securing this debate.
Music education cannot flourish without expert teachers, but recruitment into initial teacher training for music has fallen by 7…
I thank my noble friend for the question and the work that she and the noble Baroness have done in advocating consistently for funding for the PSNI. I will continue the conversation with the Secretary of State. The Government recognise the difficult financial position that the PSNI faces, which is w…
My Lords, I commend my noble friend the Minister on the courageous decision to make the necessary changes to the winter fuel payment and bring some joy to many pensioners. The Government should be congratulated on actually listening to what the people are saying. In that respect and under the princi…
My Lords, I too will speak to Amendment 185, to which I was very pleased to add my name. It is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Browning, on this amendment and my noble friend Lord Hendy, who spoke to his amendments in this group.
As the noble Baroness already indicated, Amendment 185 …
My Lords, while some supply constraints remain, predominantly with the higher-strength product, Creon stock is regularly being delivered to pharmacies. Alternative products and unlicensed imports are also available. Guidance has been issued to the NHS on prescribing available alternatives and utilis…
I can say to my noble friend that serious shortage protocols are a tool that we have and use to manage and mitigate medicine and medical devices shortages. They enable community pharmacists to supply a specified medicine or device in accordance with a protocol rather than a prescription, with the pa…
My Lords, we welcome Ofcom’s protection of children codes, which will make a substantial difference to the online experience of children. From July, platforms will be required to use measures to protect children—such as highly effective age assurance and filtering out harmful algorithms—or face enfo…
I thank my noble friend for that question. I should make it clear that Ofcom’s codes will improve child safety online and go beyond similar regimes elsewhere to achieve this. By regularly conducting thorough risk assessments, services can proactively identify emerging threats and adapt safety measur…
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on the Front Bench and I very much welcome this Statement on SPS, electricity trading and emissions trading. We must not forget that UK energy was looking for a deal on electricity trading and the alignment of schemes in respect of emissions trad…
My Lords, I would be very happy if my noble friend the Minister could outline when the funding for the support organisations will be provided. Many of them have worked strenuously over many years to ensure that the funding and the compensation go to the people who need them most: the victims of infe…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the repeating the Statement. The Statement says:
“We will continue to work closely with the devolved Governments throughout the negotiations that will follow today’s announcement ”. —[ Official Report , Commons, 8/5/25; col. 898.]
Could my noble friend outline th…
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for the Statement. I welcome this trade deal, and I, for one, welcome the Belfast/Good Friday agreement and the Windsor framework. I believe that we should avail ourselves of every opportunity to access trade opportunities wherever they may arise, wheth…
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. In answer to the first part, I can confirm that the Minister sitting next to me heard that, so the Home Office will be aware. The graduate visa system is an important system. The changes in the immigration White Paper effectively reduce from 24 months to …
My noble friend is right to highlight that wildfire is a devolved issue. The national resilience wildfire adviser covers the whole United Kingdom. My department has a very strong relationship with the devolved Governments across all areas, but I will have conversations with relevant counterparts wit…
My noble friend raises a very important point. In terms of trials, I will certainly be signing up—and I encourage noble Lords and their friends and families to do likewise—to Join Dementia Research, which is a collaboration between NIHR and a number of excellent charities, including the Alzheimer’s …
My Lords, I condemn the words and the alleged actions of Kneecap. As a democratic Irish nationalist, I condemn the assault and the attacks on the people of Gaza. However, undoubtedly, there is no justification for a call to action by Kneecap in respect of the murder of MPs, particularly Conservative…